New York Real-Estate Agent Scores $13 Million Deal on WeChat

Most users of China’s popular social media and messaging app WeChat use the service to swap messages, post pictures and share personal updates. But one real-estate agent recently used it to score a $13 million deal.

An artist’s rendering of the Baccarat Hotel & Residences, set to open in midtown Manhattan later this year.

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Last month, Yue (Emma) Hao, a New York-based agent at real-estate brokerage Douglas Elliman, received an unsolicited message on WeChat from a Chinese entrepreneur who wanted to know more about a residential building in Manhattan associated with the crystal brand Baccarat. Hao, who is from Beijing, realized the person was talking about the Baccarat Residences, a 50-story glass condo tower under construction across from New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The building, which is expected to open later this year, will have 61 units priced from about $3 million to about $60 million.

Hao left a message with the person on WeChat, telling her she’d inquire. After visiting the Baccarat’s sales center, she sent the Chinese entrepreneur, whom she declined to name, pictures of what the condos would look like and the neighborhood’s amenities. The next day, after speaking with the woman by phone, Hao hammered out the deal: a $10.25 million three-bedroom apartment on the 39th floor and a one-bedroom unit on the 21st floor for about $3 million.

Hao also set up a WeChat group between herself, the buyer and attorneys to help navigate the purchasing process in the U.S., which she says is very different from buying a home in China. “Nobody can see who is in my group and it’s confidential,” Hao says of being able to send documents back and forth on the social app.

Hao has been using WeChat for the past two years and estimates she’s completed seven deals via the app. Though the Baccarat deal is by far her biggest WeChat transaction, she often posts new listings and pictures from open houses on her timeline and leaves voice messages for prospective buyers. “No matter how clients first contacted me, we almost always end up using WeChat at some point,” she says.

While WeChat has helped Hao gain more clients, she limits her contacts to 500 and blocks people who, for example, ask if she’s single or married. “It’s about quality control,” Hao says. “Most of my contacts have something to do with real estate.”